Heavenly Sticky Chewy Vegan Brownie {No Bake}

I tried this out last week, and it was amazing. I was also experimenting as I went, and ended up with something slightly different from what was intended. I had planned this vegan brownie out as dessert for when my vegan uncle came home visiting. Did he like it? I’ll save that for the end of this post!

Brownies made in the traditional way require three specific ingredients that I wanted to avoid at all cost:

Eggs – not vegan

Flour – not very healthy

Baking powder – not very healthy, either

Plus, the baking! I didn’t want to figure that out. I’m no baker, and my previous attempts at using my microwave as an oven have flopped badly. (It’s a microwave that’s supposed to double as an oven, before you laugh at my stupidity.)

For some reason, when it comes to cooking, I fare better when I don’t follow the instructions, than when I very strictly do. Hmmm… I guess improvisation is my talent:P

So, this particular type of no bake brownie is a no brainer – and there are countless variations of it online. For the crunchy, hard part, you can use walnuts, or almonds, or both. For the sticky gooey part, use pitted dates (of course). And the ratio is also up to you.

I ended up with a two-layer brownie that both had the same ingredients, but in different proportions.

It all worked out well in the end:)

Except for my attempted ganache – that was a flop. So, I’ve excluded it from this post. If you want to make ganache, follow the instructions at Minimalist Baker’s post.

Let’s get to it!

Heavenly Sticky Chewy Vegan Brownie {No Bake}

Ingredients

1 cup raw walnuts

1 cup raw almonds

2 1/2 cups (dates, pitted)

3/4 cup raw cacao powder

2 Tbsp coffee/espresso powder

1/4 tsp sea salt

You can buy any of these from Amazon; just hit the image below (affiliate link).

Instructions

Mix the 1 cup walnuts and 1 cup almonds and blend in a food processor until ground.(When I tried to process the almonds, they turned out to be too hard. So I had to soak them in warm water for half an hour before I could blend them. If you think you need to do that with your almonds, just soak them in water overnight, dry them out and then add to the walnuts and pulse in the processor.). This additional step, in fact, was what became the two separate layers of my brownie. The bottom layer had more walnuts (while almonds were soaking), and the top layer had more almonds (after having soaked and gotten soft enough to pulse).<– This Cuisineart food processor is what I recommend (aff. link).

Add in the coffee/espresso powder, raw cacao powder and sea salt, and process together. Set this aside.

Grind the dates in the food processor until it gets sticky. Remove and set aside. (Again, you may want to soak the dates in warm water for half an hour, if your dates seem too hard. My dates were very soft, and I didn’t need to soak them, though I expected to have to. Go figure.)

Put the first mixture (nuts + coffee + cacao) back into the processor, and process while adding handfuls of the date mixture. This is so it mixes evenly.

The magic starts to become visible! Keep processing until the mixture, now sticky and well blended, becomes like cookie dough. Try not to eat it already!

Add this doughy mixture to a small dish and press down to form an even layer – till it’s flat.

Transfer dish to freezer for half an hour, then cut into pieces and serve!

Note: The brownie’s consistency is best when it’s freshly removed from the freezer. If allowed to sit outside for too long, it gets too squishy and doesn’t taste half as good. You’ve been warned:P

How did you find it? Was it good?:)

BTW, my uncle LOVED it! He was in a foul mood when he arrived, but this brownie put him right back to his usual jovial mood! Magic, I tell you;)

If you would like to further explore raw vegan desserts, I recommend this book:

There are affiliate links in this post. They allow me to make some money at no extra cost to you. Thank you!

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